The Fox and the Rabbit
by Mara the Wolf
Summary: MoboGenesis. A lab dedicated to studying Mobian genetics. Sylvia. A former military geneticist. Simon. The head scientist for MoboGenesis, and Sylvia's boss. Watch as the two grow closer and come to love one another. A series of roleplays with Handepsilon involving the growing relationship between our OCs. No canons.
1. Chapter 1

**Co-written by Handepsilon.**

**Disclaimer: I own only my OCs. Simon Levinski and MoboGenesis belong to Handepsilon.**

The dawn had risen in Central City, the capital of the United Federation. Transports were starting to become operational and filled to the brim with workers, as they always did during the weekdays.

Among the offices these workers were heading towards was the campus ground of the Global Health Center, the World Government's international health and research organization. Each of the workers were heading towards different buildings, depending on which division they belonged to.

Among the workers heading toward MoboGenesis, the genetic research lab, was Sylvia Johnson. She was a pretty silver-and-black fox in her mid-thirties with light blue eyes and short black hair. She wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses, a black jacket over a simple white button-up shirt, a knee-length black skirt, and black combat boots with grey accents. She headed straight through the lobby towards the elevator and, after showing her ID and scanning her fingerprint, she tapped her security card and a set of extra buttons opened up on the wall. She chose one that said "B5".

The lift started to descend as it closed. Going further into the subterannean structures under the building, it keeps going for what appeared to be a minute, until finally Sylvia could see a large underground interior that made up all the sections underground, if only for a few seconds before it descends back down.

And it stays moving... Probably for 5 minutes.

Finally the floor arrived at B3, where a few scientists started to exit out. Naturally there wasn't any new folks who entered in the elevator.

Sylvia idly wondered what was on the other underground floors, but kept quiet as she waited for her floor. She wanted to work already.

Finally the door opened to floor B5, where Sylvia was greeted by a long corridor with doors on occasions. The lights were just starting to turn on. Either that, or the light turned on _because_ she came there. There was no telling whichever occured.

Sylvia headed down the corridor, keeping her eyes on the signs outside the doors. "4C, 4C... 2B, 2C, 3A..." She continued reading off the plaques until she reached her lab.

She seemed to be the first to arrive as the lab was completely empty. _I guess I can familiarize myself with the labs while I wait for them._

She decided to check the Chaos Drives room first. _This area seems unnecessary. We're working on their powers _without_ a power booster, why do we even need this? ...Maybe I'm just a _little_ biased..._

The place only had few features, with the main one being what seemed to be an energy infuser. It was clearly not to be handled without care, just as the warning sign plastered on it suggested. The other feature was the plethora of Chaos Drive tubes on the shelves, which gave the walls a rainbow look.

The tubes there were categorized neatly according to their colors, some of which were rarer than others and Sylvia probably had never seen. Their glow and hue seemed different too, even in the same category. These might indicate the potency of each. All of them were encased in small, yet really thick tubes.

Among them, a few batch, especially the golden and dark purple ones, seem to rattle a bit occasionally, as if the container wasn't stable enough to keep the energy safe and calm. For the uninitiated, these might cause panic. Fortunately for Sylvia, the instruction manual was placed right next to the shelves.

The fox was indeed curious at the rattling tubes. She was tempted to hold them, but she knew better and instead reached for the instruction manual.

And it was a much wiser decision. The manual's warning section mentioned something about not moving the "unstable" Drives around too much, lest it explodes, among many other things.

The fox's eyebrows rose. _Good thing I didn't touch those. Who knew something so beautiful could be so dangerous?_ she thought as she read on.

Other instructions seemed to detail more on its' own usage, how to insert them inside the infuser and several more safety measures.

Sylvia had enough and put the manual down. The lab was still empty as she came out. _What in Chaos' name are they doing?_! she thought as she checked her watch. She'd spent a good half-hour in the Drives room. _Did I come early or something?_ She decided to just continue familiarizing herself with the rooms, the next being Conception.

To her eyes, it wasn't too complex, clearly not as complex as the last one due to her already knowledgeable mind. It had everything necessary to breed lifeforms without needing any living host to house them. There were plentiful of instructions too there, even more than the last one. It was probably due to the delicacy of the process.

As soon as she reached that place, footsteps could be heard. The employees were arriving.

"About time," she muttered before turning to face them. "May I ask _why_ _all_ of you are late?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"It's... 8:30 AM, ma'am," one of them pointed out.

"I was under the impression work starts at 8," the fox said sternly. "Call me crazy, but aren't the majority of the Artificialis made children? I don't think it's very smart leaving children alone for so long. And while we're on the subject, if any harm comes to an Artificialis, I will personally see to it that the only jobs you'll ever work in will only involve flipping burgers... and mopping floors. Understand?" The fox's glare could probably turn their blood to ice.

"Y-yes ma'am," the scientist said before he and the rest of his colleagues went towards each of their posts. A lot of them seemed to be stationed in the conception chamber, and the second largest portion was handling the Chaos Drives. It seemed that the third and fourth section of all 5 were undermanned... While only one was stationed on the last and largest section, the lush green part of the lab.

Or at least that's what it was supposed to look if Sylvia went with her memory. The Playground, as said section was named, didn't look exactly complete. It was quite barren and there wasn't anybody occupying it.

It made Sylvia start to remember her old project, back when she was the head of a supersoldier program. She started thinking of little Kailila. She could just see the little echidna playing in there, smiling that bright smile of hers-

Sylvia shook her head. _Don't think about them. If you think about them too long, you'll remember_ that day_._ She went back to the Conception room. "May I ask why so many of you are assigned here?" she asked as she picked up the instruction manual.

"Conception is one of the most sensitive sections, ma'am," one of them responded, a mid-aged female beaver who seemed to be the one with the most experience than the rest. "And because there aren't any Artificialis to tend to, resources will mostly be diverted to this stage after the Infusion chamber is properly stocked... which it is. We usually will reassess the resources again after the first one is ready in the incubation stage."

Sylvia nodded and proceeded to read the instructions.

The details in each instruction book were quite a hefty amount of text walls, with several images to help pointing things out. Fortunately there were summaries at the end for whoever got driven to boredom.

The entry door opened again, this time, a particular crimson-furred rabbit entered the lab. He seemed to be the more higher ranking than even Sylvia. "I see you're already setting up shop," he said to the fox.

"Hello Mr. Levinski. Yes, I guess you could say that. I'm getting re-used to a lab environment today," she said with a chuckle.

"That's good to know. Are there any problems so far?"

The silver fox shook her head. "Nope." She gave a little snicker. "B'sides, wouldn't that be more of a reflection on _you_, or whoever you hired to build this place, if something in the labs malfunctions in the first hour?"

"That's... exactly why I asked," the rabbit shrugged. "Wouldn't want you to work with problematic tools, especially on the first day in the office. This should be, ah... 6 out of 10 times I checked the state of this place. The next one will be on this afternoon."

"You check the labs regularly then, huh?"

"Not this regularly, but this is my regular schedule on new labs," the man shrugged. "Don't let this make you believe that I had no faith in you or your colleagues. I just want to make sure that everything is in order."

Sylvia waved her hand dismissively. "It's fine. Just don't expect to see anything in the Conception chamber next time you check here."

"Of course not." The rabbit stepped back for a moment. "Well if you'll allow me to take my stroll around..."

The fox gestured for him to go ahead.

"Thank you." He went off to check on things in sequential order, occasionally asking the lab assistants about the tools they were using, the state of it, and such.

Sylvia, for the most part, decided to check how the Conception tools worked. It had been a while since she worked with genetics, so it'd probably be best to reacquaint herself with one. She shook her head with a little snigger as she remembered her old method: she told her subordinates which element(s) she'd wanted, if at all, mixed the DNA, & then it proceeded to grow inside a chamber a couple months. _Probably not the smartest method, now that I think about it, even if it did work...most of the time, anyway..._

For the most part, the process seemed quite similar, although it seemed that the infusion was done after a thorough examination. Apparently raw energy infusion into the DNA doesn't always result in it growing, and sometimes it could lead to fatal result. For the infusion to work in optimal manner, the type had to match so that after the infusion, the scientists could just let the energy synchronize itself with the body and grow naturally.

Sylvia's eyebrows raised, and her hand flew to her mouth. _Oh my Chaos. Is that why not all of them survived the Conception stage?! I-I-I never thought it could be fatal!_ She started to feel a little sick.

Just then, the rabbit leaned over to check on the same section as Sylvia did. "Is there something wrong?"

The silver fox shook her head. "N-n-nothing you'd probably want to talk about, sir," she said, her voice somewhat weak.

He narrowed his eyes for a moment, before finally leaving, continuing his inspection further.

The fox felt like she'd done something wrong, but she didn't know if she should follow after him, so she sat down and focused on making the sick feeling go away.

After completing his assessments, Simon Levinski looked rather satisfied. It seemed that the facility had met his current criteria. With that, he turned back to Sylvia. "Very well, I'll be coming back by the end of the day. Work diligently, Miss Johnson."

The silver fox nodded. "Yes sir."

Simon nodded back as he went towards the exit, closing the door behind him. The rest of the scientists gave a light huff as he was out of the room.

Sylvia rolled her eyes at them. She headed back to the Drives room. "So, how about we go over these 'Chaos Affinities'," she said as leant back against the wall. "I myself have never personally worked with Chaos Drives. Always just left that to my subordinates."


	2. Chapter 2

**Co-written by Handepsilon.**

**Disclaimer: I own only my OCs. Simon Levinski, GUN's 56th regiment, and MoboGenesis belong to Handepsilon. Starlight Comet is co-owned by ****StarlightChild96 and Handepsilon.**

Sylvia sighed. _Another dead end._ The silver fox ran a hand over her face. She was tired. She was a geneticist for an underground government project. Not that that bothered her. She loved her job. She got to manipulate genetics and play with kids. What wasn't there to love?

However, her newest project was proving to be quite difficult. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cigarettes.

A yellow hedgehog noticed her start to light up a cigarette, something she usually only did to relax, and approached. "Is something wrong, Miss Johnson?"

Sylvia turned her head towards him and smiled a lazy smile. "No more than usual, Leon. My newest project is just stumping me. How are the triplets? Showing any signs of their powers yet?"

Leon shook his head. "No ma'am. They're still not doing much other than sleeping, eating, and watching us."

"Well, they _are_ only a few weeks old. They haven't shown any signs of illness, have they?" Sylvia asked a little worriedly. Echidna DNA was fragile enough without genetic modification, and Solanna was supposed to be able to manipulate Light Chaos Energy, while her "brother" Sean was to have the same level of strength as Knuckles.

"No ma'am. They're fine."

"Good. Get back to work then. I think I'll join you for a little bit after a break. They're probably missing their momma."

Leon nodded and headed back over to the young echidnas.

Simon had decided to inspect the labs. His superiors were breathing down his neck to start showing results. So far though, all the labs were showing the same: practically nothing substantial. Maybe Lab 4C would be showing results. One of his best scientists was in charge there, after all.

Instead of results, however, all that was in the lab was three young echidnas being tended to by some of the assistants. The head scientist in question was sitting with her back to him, a lit cigarette between her fingers and one foot idly tapping the floor.

"Miss Johnson?" the rabbit called to her. The fox in question didn't so much as flinch. He cleared his throat. "Miss Johnson." Still nothing. "Miss Johnson!"

Sylvia noticed her name being called in a familiar Holoskan accent, and tensed. She paused her song, removed her earbuds, and turned around. "Oh, Mr. Levinski! What brings you down here?" she asked, standing up.

"What are you doing, Miss Johnson?"

Sylvia tilted her head confusedly. "What do you mean, sir?"

"I had to practically shout before you even noticed I was here."

"Oh, I'm sorry sir. I was just listening to Jonathan Young. He was a power metal and pop punk artist from the 2000s."

The rabbit grit his teeth. "Metal? Honestly, Miss Johnson, aren't you middle-aged? And shouldn't you be using your time more wisely to do things, like, oh I don't know, work?"

Sylvia's fur bristled. "I'm only 36, Mr. Levinski. And I can like whatever the hell I want. And I _have_ been working. I was just taking a break. You know, 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.'" She huffed and looked away. "It's certainly made _you_ one," the fox muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Don't you think you can find a better use of your time than listening to that garbage?"

Sylvia's fur bristled again, and her tail twitched briskly in agitation. "At least I'm enjoying myself. Or I was..." She said the last three words under her breath as she crossed her arms. "It's good to relax. It's healthy for you. At least _I_ won't be stressing myself into an early heart attack."

The rabbit's brow furrowed. "And just what is that supposed to mean?!"

"It means you never do anything _besides_ work."

"I'm busy!"

"You always are," the silver fox said with an eye roll. "That's why you never take me up on my offers to dinner or to just hang at my place."

"Maybe you've forgotten GUN is breathing down our necks?!"

"No, that's never far from my mind. But at least I know the importance of letting off steam, if only for a couple hours. GUN's not going to come beating down our door just because one of us decides to relax for a measly half-hour."

"At least _I_ get work done! What is it _you've_ been doing, Miss Johnson?"

Sylvia angrily put out her cigarette as she pointed towards the three echidnas... and her subordinates, who weren't even trying to hide their stares. "Solanna, Addilyn, and Sean over there are my recent projects. They're only a few weeks old. And I've been trying to create a Mobian with a Dark Form, but so far none of my attempts have made it past the Conception stage."

Simon blinked a bit, indicating his surprise. "'A Mobian with a Dark Form'? Whyever would we need one of those?"

"Well, it'd be a good asset if GUN ever comes beating down our door. And besides, you did tell me during my introduction that you wanted to try creating projects attuned to Pure Chaos Energy. If we can control something with a Dark Form, it'll be step in that direction... And it'll definitely be the kinda results that'll get your superiors-"

"Transformations of any kind are far more than a 'step'... Miss Johnson," Simon cut her off. "It's a 'leap'. I even dare say a 'moon jump'. We cannot hope to achieve even a 'Dark Form' or _any_ kind of 'Form' if we can't even start with a mere Pure Dormant status..." The fox was about to say something. "...and _not_ being an _echidna_."

Sylvia grumbled at his response. Clearly she was expecting a more positive encouragement. "...fine."

The rabbit paused for a moment. "Where exactly are the rest of your subjects, by the way?"

"They're in school. It's scheduled for the afternoon this week."

"Well, maybe you could make better use of your time than listening to that garbage. Like maybe you could _get back to work_."

"I'm still on my break, you dumb bunny."

"'Dumb bunny'?!" Simon repeated, clearly taking offense at that. "Are you looking to get fired, Miss Johnson?!"

"Apparently you've never seen Zootopia. And getting fired is the furthest thing from my mind. If anything, I want us to be closer. I want you to be able to turn to me when you have a problem, professional or otherwise."

Simon had a disdained expression. "Really, Miss Johnson? Are you actually pulling a Starlight Comet on me?"

The fox was taken aback at that response. "Wait... what?"

"Starlight Comet, lieutenant of GUN's 56th Regiment who apparently had a crush on my brother... and ended up being together with him." The rabbit put his index fingers together. "Is that what you were trying to do?"

The fox huffed. "How very blunt... well, never mind then! I'm going to go see if my children need help with their schoolwork, as that'd be 'a better use of my time.'" Sylvia angrily headed for the door.

Simon shook his head. _Troublesome woman..._ he thought to himself. As Sylvia passed, he couldn't help but notice her tail twitching rather briskly, and it was enough to get him distracted. Too distracted.

"And quit staring at my ass!" the silver fox shouted before disappearing from view, prompting snickers from some of her subordinates, at least until Simon glared at them instantly.

"You folks did not see anything." He pointed at them menacingly.

"Perhaps she's really onto something, sir," one of them grinned. "Besides, movie night never hurts."

Simon's eyes squinted in annoyance. "You know what? Fine... I'll humor her just this time. I hope you're satisfied enough to return back to work." The rabbit quickly left with a huff.


	3. Chapter 3

**Co-written by Handepsilon.**

**Disclaimer: I own only my OCs. Simon Levinski and MoboGenesis belong to Handepsilon.**

Sylvia woke up upon hearing her alarm. She immediately turned it off and checked the time, even though she already knew what it was. 4:50. Normally, she'd get dressed for her morning run. However...

"Momma?"

She'd brought work home with her.

Landon rolled over towards the sound of the alarm. "Is it time to get up already, Momma?" he asked sleepily, rubbing an eye.

Sylvia turned her head towards the tiny little fennec fox and smiled a small smile. "No sweetie. You can go back to sleep. Momma's gonna get started on breakfast, 'kay? I'll wake you when breakfast is ready."

The fennec fox nodded and rolled back over and went back to sleep.

Sylvia got up and, after a shower, headed into the kitchen to make blueberry pancakes. When she was finished she got Landon up. He had to stack books on his chair, as he was so tiny he could barely reach eye level with the table and refused to use things like booster seats. Anytime Sylvia tried something like that, he'd always go, "Mooom! I'm not a baby!", which Sylvia couldn't help but find adorable. They didn't talk much as Sylvia checked the news on her phone and Landon was watching TV.

After they finished breakfast and Landon got showered and dressed, they headed out the apartment and to the MoboGenesis labs.

The lab's upper level was pretty much like the usual day, where citizens and employees alike came and went. There wasn't any student tours that day, so the numbers of the former were pretty low, allowing the employees for the basement labs to talk a bit about their works more in the open. That is... until the higher ranking scientists scolded them for doing so.

Sylvia entered the lobby, Landon holding her hand. Some of her subordinates nodded towards her, though most weren't there. _They're probably already downstairs working,_ Sylvia thought to herself.

The lift for the basement employees was located inside the ground floor office, concealed by a door that requires staff to scan fingerprints and ID card. The lift itself also looked quite mundane, just like any other lift in the building.

Sylvia and Landon headed over to the lift. As the doors opened after she scanned her fingerprint and ID, Landon asked, "Can I try it too?!"

Sylvia shook her head and smiled apologetically. "No sweetie. You aren't registered. It's employees only."

Landon tilted his head confusedly. "Huh?"

"It means you have to work here for it to work. You need an ID card, see?" She showed her card to him before pressing "B5".

The elevator started to descend after the door closed. The distance between the basement and the ground floor was quite far, however. It probably took a good 2 minutes before the door finally opened.

Landon darted off the elevator as soon the doors opened. "Race ya, Momma!"

Sylvia shook her head. "No sweetie." She yawned a bit. "Momma's tired. You go on ahead." Landon started to say something, but she cut him off. "You're always saying you're not a baby, right? Well, prove it to me by getting to your siblings without me. I need a coffee."

Landon hung his head. "Okay."

"...You know, I bet Gem and her friends are probably playing with their powers right now. Boy, I wish I had elemental powers so I could play with them." She smirked at him.

Landon lit up hearing that, and quickly headed for Lab 4C. Sylvia chuckled and headed for the lower lobby.

As she approached the lower lobby, she could hear Simon's yelling all the way through the corridor. His tone sounded frustrated. "Do not tell me to calm down! Actual lives were lost, how am I supposed to feel!?"

Sylvia considered turning around upon hearing Simon._ Last thing I need is to get chewed out again... He sounds real upset, though..._

She hesitantly entered the lower lobby. "...Good morning, sir. Something wrong?" she said as made her way to the coffee machine.

Simon paused for a moment when he saw her. "I'll call you back later. This discussion isn't over." He hung up momentarily, before turning his head back up to the fox. He sat down on the sofa. "News from the facility overseas. I doubt you'd want to hear it."

Sylvia shrugged as she poured her coffee. "Try me... You want some, by the way?"

The rabbit huffed. "Yeah, that would be nice."

The fox poured him a mug. "You want sugar or cream?"

"Cream, maybe a bit of sugar as well."

She nodded. After fixing both their cups, she handed his to him and sat down on the opposite end of the sofa. "So tell me what happened overseas... I meant it when I said you could turn to me with your problems, you know... Maybe being the head scientist for my own program has made me too used to being in charge, but I've always figured I could really help out around here."

Simon decided to let the cup cool down slightly on the table. "It was dismantled," Simon began. "GUN raid. Only a few people managed to make it out of there."

Sylvia stiffened and grew a little wide-eyed. "Oh Chaos," she said quietly, almost whispered. "Those poor people... Why can't GUN leave things alone? We're not hurting anybody, and every time they get involved in something like this, people always suffer... Artificial Mobians especially..." She quietly looked away a moment.

"It's going to keep happening as long as that law that bans this research still keeps going. I only wish that our hired guards could do better in both concealment and defense." Simon sipped his coffee. "We're quite lucky that they're too cowardly to strike here."

Sylvia huffed. "Yes, thank Chaos for that. I wish the same could be said for my old project. My subjects didn't deserve to die... You have no idea what it's like to witness that, to hear them beg for Mommy to save them... I live with that almost every day... I'm not sure I could live through that again."

The rabbit paused for a moment. He really didn't seem to want to talk about the matter any longer. "What about you, any news?"

The fox shook her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get so dark there. Anyways, yes. You're going to get that 'Pure Dormant status' you ordered." She paused a moment to sip her coffee. "It's a lynx, and he just went into Incubation last night."

He perked up at that, clearly intrigued. "Hm, how's his health status?"

"Well, there's been no complications so far, although he hasn't even been out of Conception a full day yet, so I'm definitely going to be monitoring him closely. Especially considering none of my past attempts in this element have made it this far yet... Not counting the echidna triplets, of course."

Simon nodded in acknowledgement. He paused for a moment as he took another sip. There was an awkward silence for a moment after he was finished.

The fox watched him a moment. "Something wrong, sir?"

"No, nothing." The rabbit shook his head. "Let's just get back to work. Let me know if there's any issues later."

Sylvia nodded. Just then, Leon appeared in the doorway, out of breath. "Miss Johnson! We need you right now!"

The fox was immediately on her feet. "What happened?! Is it the lynx?!" she asked frantically.

The hedgehog shook his head. "No, ma'am. It's the triplets. We introduced them to the others just now and-"

"You idiots!" the fox roared. "I told you guys yesterday not to introduce them without me! What happened?! Is it Jian?!" The tiger was constantly mistreating his siblings, usually by getting unnecessarily physical with the ones he didn't like... which sometimes seemed like everyone but himself.

Leon backed up a bit in fear. "N-n-no ma'am! Jian's behaving himself today! E-e-everything was going fine at first, b-b-but then Kris a-a-accidentally hit Addilyn with her electric powers-"

Sylvia's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh Chaos. Is she okay?!"

"She'll live, but her back's burned badly and she's in a lot of pain."

Sylvia was already running out the door. She paused for only a moment to look back and say, "Sorry about this, Mr. Levinski," and then was running down the hallway. She could be heard threatening to fire Leon among other things as she got further away, with Leon apologizing profusely.

"Wa-" Simon didn't manage to finish his sentence before the fox left. The rabbit quickly got up and went to the nearby intercom, pressing a button on it. "Medical center, I need a team on Miss Johnson's sector. We got another accident."


	4. Chapter 4

**Co-written by Handepsilon.**

**Disclaimer: I own only my OCs. Simon Levinski and MoboGenesis belong to Handepsilon.**

It had been awhile since the news of the attack. Simon had gone back on supervision duty. He was noticeably a lot more agitated, but it seemed that the majority of the scientists treated it like a usual routine day.

Sylvia was working as normal, with one slight difference: no matter what she did, the echidna triplets kept following her, refusing to go into the playground with the other Artificialis.

"Sweeties, _please_, go play with your siblings. Momma's gotta work. C'mon sweethearts, it was an accident. Kris didn't mean to hurt you," she pleaded with them. The echidnas just stared at her.

A lavender cat came up, smirking in amusement. "Having fun, Miss Johnson?"

"Oh yeah, Amanda. Nothing more fun than trying to work with three terrified children following you around."

Amanda giggled and petted Solanna on the head. "I think it's kinda cute. Like ducklings following their momma."

"Did you come over here just to make fun of this?" the fox said testily.

Amanda shook her head. "No, no ma'am. C'mon kids, wouldn't you like to have fun instead of just following Momma? C'mon, doesn't it look fun in there? ...I promise, you won't be hurt this time. It was an accident, okay?"

The kids stayed where they were.

The fox sighed. "I knew that wouldn't work."

"Hmmm... I know! I'll be right back!" The cat quickly left.

Sylvia sighed again. "Great. Now what?" She tried leading the kids toward the playground. As she got closer, the kids refused to follow her. "Well, so much for that idea."

Simon could hear the conversation faintly from the corridor. He decided to enter and was surprised to see the Artificialis outside of the playground. "What's going on here?"

"Oh, hello Mr. Levinski. We're trying to reintroduce the triplets, but they're too scared to go anywhere near there," Sylvia said with a tired sigh. "Amanda just left. She's got _some_ idea, but she didn't bother to say what it was."

"Right, the incident..." the rabbit muttered, remembering what happened the last time he heard about the triplets. "Perhaps we should wait for a few more days before reintroduction."

Sylvia sighed. "You aren't the one with them glued to you. I love 'em, but it's hard to do anything other than monitor the lynx and help with the Dormants. Lucky I don't do much more than that," she muttered. "So anyways, any reason you're inspecting the labs this time?"

"No, I just heard the commotion while I was passing by. I was actually on the way to inspect the older ones in the neighboring lab."

"Oh? What's in there, if I may ask?"

"Self-defense training. The higher ups felt that it might be necessary, if suppose the facility gets a break-in." Simon huffed. "I guess that's fine and all; mercenaries pose risks."

"Oh. That's, um, that's... interesting," Sylvia said, looking away. "I mean, the Artificialis should learn how to defend themselves. They won't be down here forever, and the world's full of dangers. Not to the extent that TV likes to portray it, but still..."

Amanda came back in then, packs of chocolate in hand. "Okay, this should wor- Oh! Um, hi Mr. Levinski!"

Sylvia raised a hand. "Never mind, Amanda. We're going to wait a few more days... Although, if you could unglue them from me for awhile..."

The cat nodded and approached the kids. "Hey kids. Wanna try these? They're really great. C'mon, you can have some if you guys come hang with Auntie-"

"Amanda," Sylvia growled in annoyance. "Hurry it up already, _please_."

Amanda flinched. "Sorry. C'mon guys." She gently grabbed Addilyn by the arm and lead the three away.

"Thank goodness," the fox said with a sigh. "Sorry about that Mr. Levinski." She cleared her throat. "Anyways, I don't _really_ see that big a problem. As I said, the world's a dangerous place, and we can't hold their hands forever. As long you teach them to exercise some basic safety measures - and monitor them, of course - then it's rather good they learn some self-defense... I've actually already decided to give my Dormants combat and gun lessons."

Simon blinked at that. "Hold on, you've been doing this without reporting to me?"

Sylvia held her hands in front of her. "I wasn't aware I had to, sir."

"Well, for future reference, these kinds of thing needs my counseling. I have no doubts on your motives, but combat trainings in this lab is a sensitive matter. Unsupervised ones have potential to pose risks to the laboratory as a whole."

Sylvia nodded. "Trust me, Mr. Levinski, I _always_ supervise them. But if you want to supervise, just to see if there's anything I've missed, you can. They get gun training on Tuesdays and Thursdays, although starting last week, they've started gun safety courses, and combat training is on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays... Although, while we're on this topic, there's been something I've been meaning to talk to you about... preferably, alone."

Simon was about to ask something, but as Sylvia started to touch a seemingly personal matter, he put his notes on his pocket. "Alright, meeting room number 3?"

Sylvia nodded and headed for the hall. She stopped and waited for Simon to lead the way.

The rabbit walked past her and went to the left side, through the fairly unpopulated corridors aside from a few workers conversing with each others. Simon opened up the door to one of the closed meeting rooms, waiting for Sylvia to sit down before sitting down himself on the other end.

Sylvia was quiet a moment as she mentally tried to word everything. "...Alright, I know I've said this before, but I think there's a lot I can do to help around here. Don't get me wrong, I love being a geneticist; I wouldn't trade it for the world. However, I think I could actually help with our GUN problem, maybe throw 'em off our trail..."

Simon was silent for a moment. "That is not an easy task, Sylvia. We've thrown them off the trail in the past, it is not likely that they'll fall for it yet again."

Sylvia shrugged. "Mmm, I don't know. Maybe they would, maybe they wouldn't. I don't have any ideas in mind, but that's only because I've no idea what would be enough to draw their attention away from us. But I know I can help. I have a natural talent for tactics and black ops. Really, just give me a scenario, and I can ensure we'll come out with minimal casualties. Really, I might be able to do something about our situation."

The rabbit sighed. "Alright, suppose we are in the middle of working on something inside our lab. Then suddenly our door is breached and a squad of armed soldiers comes in, half of them could be a Potent Mobian. What will be your first action?"

The fox thought for a bit. "...I'd send Falke out to scout out the enemy. He's a chameleon, he can turn invisible and walk on walls; it'd be quite easy for him. I could also have him head to the gun storage." She smiled weakly. "The only weapon I'd have on me is this..." The fox pulled out her Smith & Wesson handgun for a moment. "Thing rarely ever leaves me. I don't leave weapons in the lab, of course, unless we count the Actives," she said with a chuckle.

"You misunderstood me. The enemy is already at the door, like..." Simon tapped on the door of the meeting room, "this door, literally. We're all at gunpoint, unprepared, what will you do?"

"Well, the only _real_ option in that scenario is for us to surrender, and, considering they let us live, wait for the opportune moment to strike."

"That, unfortunately, is not good enough." Simon shook his head. "We already try to conceal our traces as much as possible, unfortunately it leads GUN to get much more silent in their approach. Many strikes they did recently happened quickly and silently and the security notices it when it's far too late. That's saying a lot; we only hire the best of the best especially in remote locations."

The rabbit sat back down. "What you're saying about throwing their trails off is good. The problem is that we've done exactly that for years, and it's not working out anymore. They got far smarter, know every single pattern we've tried, and we're pushed to the point where we can't even predict their movements."

Sylvia crossed her arms and looked away with a huff. "I can't just sit back and wait for them kill us and my children, Simon. I can't."

"Then find a better plan than that."

Sylvia looked around the room a moment. "Use the table as a barricade and shoot 'em. I'm doing the best I can with what I'm being given - a table, some chairs, and my gun. Those aren't the best conditions to work with."

Simon paused for a moment. "I guess later on, I'll go ask the security to give you the run down on the emergency options."

"Thanks for the compliment," Sylvia muttered sarcastically. "...By the way Simon, was there something you wanted to ask me earlier?"

"Right hold on." Simon apparently tried to recollect their conversations earlier for a moment. It took him awhile... but finally, "Ah, I remember now. Who did you hire for gun lessons?"

"Oh, I teach them myself. I practice every day, and I've got real good accuracy, so I figured I could teach 'em," the fox said, a little proud of herself.

"Rrrright, what kind of firearm?"

"Handguns, like what I use... .25 caliber, I think..."

"Alright, at least nothing too heavy," Simon replied with a relieved look on his face.

"I'm not an idiot Simon," the fox practically snarled, feeling somewhat offended. "I _know_ how heavy even a handgun can be. Plus, I made sure all the guns had safeties and that the kids understood just how dangerous a gun is. They're not allowed to use one if _I_'m not supervising them."

"I'm not saying you are." Simon paused for a moment. "Do you think that's enough though?"

"What do you mean?" Sylvia said. "They're taking gun safety courses. The only way they could be any safer is if I gave them BB guns... or guns with automatic safeties, but those are rather expensive... and I'm pretty sure those are GUN only."

"Yeah, good point..." Simon nodded. "Alright, I'll approve this. If you need more help or resource, just contact me."

Sylvia nodded. "Sure thing." She stood up and headed for the door. She turned back to him. "Well, I guess we should both head back to work. If you want to observe, you can..." The fox smirked mischievously. "Maybe you should join. Bet I could beat you in a heartbeat," she teased.

"I'm not the combat type of person. I won't even try to deny your claim." Simon raised his hands with a shrug.

Sylvia laughed. "Alright then. Bye Simon," she said with a wave before leaving.

The rabbit nodded. He seemed to be looking down for a moment as the door was closed, as if contemplating on something even for a short moment.


	5. Chapter 5

**Co-written by Handepsilon.**

**Disclaimer: I own only my OCs. Simon Levinski, MoboGenesis, and GUN's 56th regiment belong to Handepsilon.**

* * *

Sylvia was in her lab, spending time with a little black lynx.

It was then that her rabbit superior happened to run into her lab's door during his usual supervising updates. He simply leaned over to check on what was going on. He didn't have much expectation really, other than the usual routine.

The lynx kitten seemed to realize he was there, and looked towards the door.

Sylvia followed his gaze to the crimson bunny. "Hello, Mr. Levinski. Come to see our first non-echidna Dormant Pure?"

"Huh? Oh right... you talked about that earlier." The bunny smirked a bit. "Just happened to pass by, so... why not?"

The lynx kitten watched him intently. There was something in his gaze that made it seem he might've been assessing if the bunny was a threat... Or he simply could've been curious.

Sylvia lightly tapped him on the shoulder. "Michael, sweetie, it's not to nice to stare."

The kitten turned back to her.

The vixen lightly pushed a ball to him before heading over to the rabbit. "If you were here just four days ago, you could've witnessed his birth," she said, smiling fondly as she stared at her newest kid.

"Ah... well, I couldn't be everywhere all at once." The rabbit didn't look that bothered in the slightest. He then turned his gaze at the lynx. "'Michael' is it?"

She shrugged. "I couldn't think of any other names that I liked and that fit him."

"Heh, that's fair. So long as he's fine with it."

She shrugged. "He hasn't objected, but then, he hasn't started talking yet."

The lynx in question was more interested in his mom and the bunny than his toys, his intense gaze locked on them.

"Anyways Simon, any special reason you've decided to come down here? Seems like you're always checking on me." She feigned a gasp. "You wouldn't just be making excuses just to spend time with me, would you Carrots?" she teased.

"'Carrots'?" Simon raised an eyebrow, "No, as I said, I just happen to pass by. You can ask the other researchers just how often I check on people every day. You can guarantee 80% of them will say '10 or 12 times'."

"I'm joking, Simon. Lighten up a little."

The rabbit just huffed. "Mind if I ask a small question, in private?"

The fox nodded and headed into the hallway.

The rabbit followed shortly. As soon as they were outside of the lynx's hearing range, he spoke. "I'm not going to lie, he reminds me of the former GUN 56th assassin. Where did you get the sample for him?"

Sylvia shrugged. "I just requested lynx DNA. I don't ask where it comes from; DNA is DNA. Although, I think someone mentioned...Acorn? Or maybe it was Avalon..."

"Hm... probably not then. I know the kid was Soleannan." Simon muttered, "I just had to take a guess, he didn't talk much and he's a black lynx as well."

She shrugged again. "Simon, he's four days old; I'd be rather surprised if he starts talking. As for the black fur, my guess is melanism."

"I'll have you know that I've picked words within a day." The rabbit huffed. "Ah well, it's just a small deal, not going to affect my judgement either way. So, Dormant Pure, is it? Is he showing signs of any other affinities?

She shook her head. "Nope."

"Well, great. He should be pretty stable then." The rabbit nodded. "Great job."

"Simon, if I may ask: How's a Dormant Pure gonna help us towards making Mobians capable of Form Change? ...And, is Form Change Active or Potent? I've always figured it was Active, given that so many are capable of Form Change. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Blaze, Silver..."

"I'd say... Active, but I don't think we'll take an actual risk of applying actual form change. Too high profile. As for your first question, well... It's more of a progress, really," Simon replied. "Jumping into the Active or even Potent without any prior capability to stabilize the DNA would result in many many failures."

Sylvia looked away a moment. "You're telling me..."

"I thought we'd already cleared that up before."

"No, Simon. All that was said was..." She imitated his voice almost perfectly. "'Transformations of any kind are far more than a 'step'... Miss Johnson. It's a 'leap'. I even dare say a 'moon jump'. We cannot hope to achieve even a 'Dark Form' or any kind of 'Form' if we can't even start with a mere Pure Dormant status...and _not_ being an _echidna_.'" She looked more than a little angry recounting the last five words.

"Yes... and I commend you for achieving what others could not," Simon firmly stated. "But this is still the first step. Every further progress we take depends heavily on things we learned from our previous successes and failures. Look, Miss Johnson. I'm overjoyed with your leap and Michael's healthy state, but even if we did manage to reach Pure Potent, I cannot afford to put him on a pedestal. Favoritism is a dangerous thing among the hundreds... no, thousands of children."

"I'm not asking you put him on a pedestal Simon. I'm not asking you put anyone on a pedestal."

"Then what is the problem?"

"You said, 'Jumping into the Active or even Potent without any prior capability to stabilize the DNA would result in many many failures. I thought we cleared that up.' I'm just pointing out we never did... Though you never _did_ apologize for lashing out at me, calling me old, insulting my tastes, having the audacity to stare at my ass after tearing my heart out - you know, there _are_ a lot nicer ways to say 'I don't like you like that' - or for effectively calling the triplets worthless." She looked away with a sigh, arms crossed.

Simon stared at the woman for a moment, "Oh, I really do have to spell it out to make it clear for you then," he muttered. "When I say 'moon jump' and 'cannot hope to reach', I implied its near-impossibility... which, any decent scientists and especially you, would be able to conclude: means that attempting to make that jump straight away would not logically be able to be done in one single try. That's why I suggested to start small first. I hope I also don't have to spell out what 'failures' would mean, because I don't want to have to explain the picture in front of the children."

Sylvia growled, and her claws unsheathed. "Don't treat me like an idiot, Simon. I know that, you dumb bunny. I was only clarifying we've never once discussed the Pure element, when you thought we cleared it up."

The rabbit didn't seem to be bothered much at Sylvia's anger. "Well, if you don't consider that time when we discussed forms as discussion about Pure element, then perhaps not. Forgive me if I wasn't clear then Miss Johnson. You've probably figured out by now that social interaction was not something that was properly taught to me."

Sylvia sighed. "No, I guess not. Sorry." She looked away a moment. "You know, I could teach you proper social interactions, if you want."

The rabbit fell silent for a good moment, as if contemplating the prospect, but finally settled with, "Perhaps when we're both done with our work."

The fox nodded. "Well, if that's all..."

"That'll be all for me, do you or Michael need something else?"

The fox hesitated a moment. "...No, I think we're good."

It didn't seem like Simon noticed or thought it important. "Very well, call me or the other staff if you need something comes up. I'll be resuming my inspection."

The fox nodded and headed back into the lab.


End file.
